1. Developmental differentiation and binding of mental processes with g through the life-spanAndreas Demetriou, George Spanoudis, Smaragda Kazi, Antigoni Mougi, Mislav Stjepan Žebec, Elena Kazali, Hudson Golino, Karin Bakračevič, Michael Shayer, 2017, original scientific article Abstract: Integration/differentiation of mental processes is major mechanism of development. Developmental theories ascribe intellectual development to it. In psychometric theory, Spearman’s law of diminishing returns postulates that increasing g allows increasing differentiation of cognitive abilities, because increased mental power allows variable investment in domain-specific learning. Empirical evidence has been inconsistent so far, with some studies supporting and others contradicting this mechanism. This state of affairs is due to a developmental phenomenon: Both differentiation and strengthening of relations between specific processes and g may happen but these changes are phase-specific and ability-specific, depending upon the developmental priorities in the formation of g in each phase. We present eight studies covering the age span from 4 to 85 years in support of this phenomenon. Using new powerful modeling methods we showed that differentiation and binding of mental processes in g occurs in cycles. Specific processes intertwine with g at the beginning of cycles when they are integrated into it; when well established, these processes may vary with increasing g, reflecting its higher flexibility. Representational knowledge, inductive inference and awareness of it, and grasp of logical constraints framing inference are the major markers of g, first intertwining with in their respective cycles and differentiating later during the periods of 2–6, 7–11, and 11–20 years, respectively. The implications of these findings for an overarching cognitive developmental/differential theory of human mind are discussed.
Keywords: intelligence, cognitive development, individual differences, integration, differentiation, awareness
Published in DKUM: 21.06.2017; Views: 1094; Downloads: 388
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2. Reasoning and self-awareness from adolescence to middle age : organization and development as a function of educationAndreas Demetriou, Karin Bakračevič, 2009, original scientific article Abstract: This study involved four age groups: 13-15-, 23-25-, 33-35-, and 43-45-yr-olds. All adult groups involved persons with university education andpersons with low education. Participants (1) solved tasks addressed to spatial, propositional, and social reasoning, (2) evaluated their own performance and the difficulty of the tasks, and (3) answered an inventory probing their self-concept for these reasoning domains and for self-awareness and self-regulation. Structural modeling revealed that performance, self-evaluation, and self-representation are systematically interrelated. Performance in spatial and propositional reasoning stabilized in early adulthood, whereas in social reasoning and self-evaluation, performance improved throughout the age span studied. Educated persons performed better and rated themselves accordingly across all domains. The implications of these findings for the general theory of intelligence and cognitive developmentafter adolescence are discussed. The functional shift model is proposed to account for changes in the relative power of different abilities with increasing age.
Keywords: education, developmental psychology, cognitive processes, self-awareness, reasoning
Published in DKUM: 07.06.2012; Views: 2251; Downloads: 103
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